Terrorism is Nobody's Monopoly

All in all, you treaded the most expected path out of a Deoband graduate Mr. Qasmi. The difference between Islamo-terrorist freaks, and other terrorist groups is the source of motivation and support. In the case of Islamic terrorists, by their own admission, the motivation is from Islam evident from the religious sloganeering they resort to while committing acts of terrorism. And, even if no clear cut support for such butchering is seen from the Muslim masses, we (non-muslims) do not see clear condemnation either. What we see, instead, is the oft-repeated urging from the ``Islamic scholars`` and ``leaders of the community`` to understand ``root-causes`` for the alienation, ``grievances``. It is almost always the case that Muslims by and large want to violently keep all the backward aspects of their identity and still blame others for their failure to come to grip with the realities of the 20th century and assimilate. Muslims, it seems, are a cursed lot - Being a majority makes them an oppressive lot, and being a minority makes them turbulent.

Mr. Qasmi, I do appreciate your historical perspective. I understand that Muslims cannot claim originality or monopolopy over terrorism. However, lately and unfortunately, it is Muslims who have been hell bent on destroying this world. Muslims of the world can longer afford to dilute debate by blaming external conspiracies; imperial design, Zionist strategy, Hindutva resurgence etc. Muslims, first and foremost, should recognize that their enemy is within… Jihadis are the enemies no matter what cause they represent; Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir etc.

No land, no territory, no nation, no state, no freedom, no independence can justify violence. No more can we tolerate those who preach ``eye for an eye`` because soon everyone will end up blind.

Cheers,
Ibrahim Malick

{‘‘All Muslims may not be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims,’’ a frequent comment...}

Not necessarily if one is to believe Time Magazine

A Scripps-Howard poll of 1,010 adults last month found that 36% of Americans consider it ``very likely`` or ``somewhat likely`` that government officials either allowed the attacks to be carried out or carried out the attacks themselves. Thirty-six percent adds up to a lot of people. This is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a mainstream political reality.

I think this development should have been taken into account somewhere in this article. It is strange that people are afraid to talk about it even though more than one out of three americans thinks the whole thing is a fraud.

Every country has some bastion working, serving this concept of Terrorising.

The article missed the Messiah of the century, who recently died in his dreams, Slobodan Milosevic, the butcher of the Bosnians.

The Muslims have been gagged and maimed and not allowed to protest and expected to accept everything that comes their way. Period.

Qasmi Sahib,
An excellent essay depicting the universal nature of terrorism. One important point that differentiates right-wing fundo whacko Sunni Wahabbi fanatic terrorists from all others is that they concentrate primarily on Muslim victims, especially Shias, in their dastardly and murderous deeds.

this article reads abrupt. so a fact is stated, but the question remains, so what? what is it that the author wants the readers to take home? more importantly, what is it that the authors advice to his ``us`` and ``others`` about how to deter and counter terrorist amongs his ``us``? therin lies the somethinf of value. at least the author should discuss the root-cause otherwise the article may appear to a reader as a whitewash or defense of the islamic terrorist.

Jang #6, {``this article reads abrupt. so a fact is stated, but the question remains, so what? what is it that the author wants the readers to take home?``}

Jang,
Very good questions. In your case, the action item is for you to reflect upon the rising menace of right-wing whacko fundo Hindutva terrorism unleased by the forces of BJP/RSS/JS/VHP/SP/BD/SS fanatic terrorists. The recent murders committed by these Hindu fanatics in Malegaon are a frightening indication of the spread of terrorism in India. Consider this your homework. Ram Ram sat he, yehi tumhari gut he.

Ali Sina`s disciple Antihypochrist writes <<< The difference between Islamo-terrorist freaks, and other terrorist groups is the source of motivation and support. In the case of Islamic terrorists, by their own admission, the motivation is from Islam evident from the religious sloganeering they resort to while committing acts of terrorism >>>

All terrorist groups including state terrorists have an ideology that they pursue, the sloganeering is different depending on the kind of institutional support they have. If groups have no state or military institution to represent them in their political struggle what else are they going to do but default to the religious. The Civil Rights movement in the US, a political struggle started among religious institutions in the US for just such reasons and there were many of those that struggled that used violence and became violent.

Nowhere in any of the misguided groups that use terrorism (involving civilians) among the Muslims is the explicit or implicit agenda the furtherance of theological motives, they are political struggles exploited by the higher terrorists, the US which then assumes a life of its own. Were a new ``Cuban Missile Crisis`` raging between the US and the Soviets, regardless of the firecrackers that Usama managed to set off, he would be considered of no importance and the mainstream wouldn`t even bother with him. Why he is important at this transitory time is because the main opponent of the US that was is no longer present and a new one hasn`t fully fermented yet. Of course those with a mirasi mentality like Ali Sina and his thugs wouldn`t have anything to sell if people understood the socioeconomic causes of the terrorism phenomenon that has been nurtured by the US ``war on terror`` farce. It is easy for simple minds to say the cause is religious formulas and virgins in heaven.

#7 salim, i take full responsibilty of the malegaon incidence, no excuses, and invite all indians to do so. no whitewash, no pointing out how they are not following a ``real`` religion, whether its lingam-worship or islam.

Re: # 3 zeemax {``...poll ... found that 36% of Americans consider it ``very likely`` or ``somewhat likely`` that government officials ... allowed the attacks etc, etc, ......``}

9/11 and the Laws of Physics

The WTC buildings 1, 2, and 7 collapsed on 9/11/2001. No 7 collapsed at 5:30 PM while 1 and 2 collapsed 56 minutes and 102 minutes after they were each hit. The heat from the fire is said to have ``softened`` the steel structures supporting the buildings.

Considering that steel is a superb heat conductor therefore the heat must have dissipated throughout the frame across the 104 floors before it could have built up at any one localized spot.

How many tons of steel was there vs how much jet fuel was there? I remember reading 90,000 liters of jet fuel somewhere. So, how many BTU`s of heat could be produced by the given amount of jet fuel? And how much heat was required to ``soften`` the steel. These are all calculations that should not be too difficult for a competent engineers with a laptop.

The melting temperature of steel is a little less than 2,800 F, while the maximum combustion temperature of jet fuel (under ideal conditions) is about 1,700 F.

The question being asked is this: Was it failing steel support or was it the aid of explosives that imploded the buildings? Frankly, I don`t know the answer. But, looking at the following video clips one can see that these questions deserve a careful scrutiny? Unfortunately the 9/11 commission did not do as thourugh a job as it should have.

Projectile motion, 6:27 minutes video clip
seismic data, 3:29 min
2:49 min ccontinuation
1:00 minue clip
Pyroclastic flow, 3:09 min

Pancake collapse theory 2:02 mins

Tower 7 about 6 minutes
Explosive energy 3:54 mins
Larry Silverstein says it ... 0:49 sec
Tower 7 free fall under 5 minutes

I would turn your comments completely around: terrorism is everyones responsibility. At the simplest level, we need to be alert to the fact that there are haters and murderers around us who justify terroristic violence based on religion and ``just causes``.

And, yes, when their are terrorists from communities that are close to us, we are even more responsible. We have to say: we will not have our families involved, we will argue against our neighbors being involved, we will stand up and speak out against this horrible way of life.

That is the correct way to approach it, not the ``minimizing`` approach you have taken, which is intellectually dishonest and tries to wiggle out of responsibility (``So what if islamists killed 10,000, look at Hitler he killed 10 million``).

Salim_C: sir, there is a full fledged investigation going in Malegaon. The poor folk of that region have practiced admirable restraint in their response. There is very little history of systematic bomb blasts originating from ``hindu groups`` in india; let us wait for a couple of more days before assigining blame to this or that group.

#3 Zeemax, why do you think that the US mainstream media has kicked into high gear, including NPR, calling in all kinds of experts to rubbish what they describe as the ``conspiracy theories``. If people weren`t paying attention to those ``conspiracy theories`` or had full trust in the official bs, you think the mainstream media would have bothered with trying to refute them with such passion?

The author makes two points: (1) Terrorism is not confined to Muslim groups; and (2) Terrorism is bad because it kills innocent civilians. There can hardly be an arguement against any of these two points.

I would like to add a bit to point (2). All wars have lead to the deaths of civilians. During wars civilians are aware that they are (fair or unfair) targets. At the beginning of a terrorist movement civilians are usually unaware that they are targets. As terrorism gets entrenched, civilians SHOULD be aware that they are (legitimate or otherwise) targets.

I would also like to add a trivia because for some strange reason people are discussing when did terrorism start. For all I know terrorism could have started during the time of the cave men. And as masadi states in #8, fighters against the state are often labelled terrorists. However, Muslim (pro-state) scholars trace the roots of Muslim terrorism to the middle ages. An Ismaili group, the so-called Assassins, was well known for the suicide missions of its devotees. Their leader in Syria was Rashid al-Din Sinan, also known as the Old Man of the Mountains. Interestingly, Khalid al-Mihdhar (a 9/11 bomber) was nicknamed Sinan.

#12 by masadi

I`ve never believed in the 19 easter-bunnies plus a santa claus theory. There is no evidence to support the official version while there is tons of evidence to debunk the same.

There`re thousands of websites, articles, papers, the whole works challenging the official version while, there`s just a single one defendig it i.e. Popular Mechanics which has been accused of yellow journalism.

You`re right. That is why this flurry of timely videos to convince everyone that it was indeed the 19 easter bunnies plus a santa claus who brought down three towers, blew a hole in pentagon, and made heroes out of `let`s roll` or whatever it was they said.

I was travelling via Europe during the days of the Atlantic bombing attempt and my experiences have led me to believe that the time has come for Indians to educate the West that we are NOT Pakistanis. It is inevitable and natural that Western countries will begin racial and religious profiling to make their countries and skies safer and we Indians are becoming the unfortunate victims of the misdeeds of Pakistanis simply because we look like them.

The days of political correctness are coming to an end and a spade will be called a spade. If we Indians don`t make an attempt to differentiate ourselves, we will be lumped with this retrograde group of people and suffer the unintended consequences.

Re: # 14

zeemax and masadi,

........... you two epitomize all that is wrong with the muslims and islam ! .......... shame on you for spewing such nonsense on this sad day when your ideological brothers, driven by hatred and malevolence, killed thousands of innocent people ............ they, like you, wanted to destroy what they themselves were incapable of achieving and flew planes that they could not design into buildings they could not build ............ shame on you cave-dwellers